Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To transform (a landscape) on another planet into one having the characteristics of landscapes on Earth.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb science fiction To transform the atmosphere (or biosphere) of another planet into one having the characteristics of Earth
  • verb Earthscape

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin terra, earth; see terrace + form.]

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Examples

  • Why don't we 'terraform' the Sahara desert before Mars?

    Why the Moon? Here's Why. - NASA Watch 2009

  • The Mars Society says that the Earth is a rotting, dying, stinking planet and that we must move our civilization to Mars and that Congress must appropriate funds to "terraform" Mars.

    SPACE MOVEMENT - WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? 2008

  • Personally, I think it is easier, cheaper, and ultimately much more profitable to "terraform" asteroids and comets by hollowing them out and spinning them for gravity.

    Terraforming Stephen D. Covey 2008

  • And, if anything, I can easily imagine some variant of these techniques being eventually used to "terraform" (i.e. make more Earth-like) Mars and other currently inhospitable planets-think

    Discover Blogs 2010

  • Saying we need to rush back to the caves and saying we need to "terraform" the earth are different sides of the same coin: both are profound retreats from the responsibilities of our day, and both ignore the amazing opportunities we still have available to us to create a sustainable society.

    AlterNet.org Main RSS Feed 2010

  • Vollmann's second strand examines Californians 'use of technology to literally "terraform" their environment, just as contemporary science-fiction writers were imagining the transformation of other planets.

    Top stories from Times Online 2010

  • Once established on the planet, one of the society's suggested plans is to then 'terraform' Mars, to replace and replenish its atmosphere and return it to the more life-friendly environment it once was billions of years ago.

    Home | Mail Online 2009

  • It seems that a dying alien race sent out an arkship, looking for the perfect world to terraform and resurrect the aliens.

    Stargate SG-1 Watchathon - 'Scorched Earth' (S04E08) 2009

  • It seems that a dying alien race sent out an arkship, looking for the perfect world to terraform and resurrect the aliens.

    September 2009 2009

  • If you were gonna terraform Mars and send animals to colonize the planet, would you send Grandma and Grandpa, Mom and Dad, or the virile teenagers old enough to survive but young enough to populate the colony?

    Alternative to Dembski's Theodicy? 2009

Comments

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  • "And there are NASA folk who dream of the day such devices will be in their toolkits. Not for tinkering with the Earth's atmosphere, but for re-engineering Mars'. By creating the mother of all greenhouse effects, the frozen red planet would be transformed into a relatively balmy, 15OC second Earth. This field of research, known as planetary engineering - or terraforming, if you're a science fiction buff - is of course in its infancy."

    - Graham Phillips, How pollution might just save the planet, theage.com.au, 11 Oct 2009.

    October 11, 2009

  • "The Mars Society says that the Earth is a rotting, dying, stinking planet and that we must move our civilization to Mars and that Congress must appropriate funds to "terraform" Mars." See also terraformer.

    August 4, 2015